Stopping & Waiting
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day 1454b: What if, when faced with the choice of taking the leap with Francesca, Nora had hesitated? - Sunshine Girls 2 series extra - ANNIVERSARY CYCLE, day 5, shift B


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 69th cycle. Now cycle 70!_

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**_GLEEKATHON FOURTH ANNIVERSARY CYCLE -_**_ It's October again, which means another year of Gleekathon is about to wrap up! At the end of the month it will have been four years since I've started doing my daily stories! As always, I will be celebrating this with a special cycle of stories to touch on my favorite stories I've done throughout the year. There will be two installments each on Thursdays, Saturdays, Mondays, and Wednesdays. The remaining days will feature, as they have in the last several months, new chapters of the latest story in my Doctor Who/Glee crossover series. As far as the anniversary stories go, it will be as I've done before, taking those past stories and either doing a prequel, sequel, POV swap, genre swap, alternate ending, or additional scenes._

**_This_**_ **story** is an ALTERNATE ENDING on "Rising & Moving" a Sunshine Girls 2 series story originally posted on May 29 2013.  
_

_(This is a shift day, which means there will be two stories posted today!)_

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**"Stopping & Waiting"  
Nora (AU!Beth), Francesca, (Grace, Emily)  
Sunshine Girls 2 series extra  
_(all series now listed under the communities tab in my profile)_  
**

They had worked on their project, her and Francesca, and they were done. That was the reason why she'd allowed them to retreat back to her room. She had set them up in the dining room with the specific purpose of removing any kind of distraction or temptation. But they were done now, they were in the clear, and within minutes, they had scaled up the stairs and moved into her room, shutting the door.

It had taken no words and the next thing Nora knew, she was being kissed by her girlfriend. It was so easy to get lost in Francesca that way. Nora hadn't had too much experience as far as kissing before. Her vague assortment of dates had never ended in any place where she might have wanted to see these girls again, and sometimes it had ended with a swift brush off, but there were some times where, in full knowledge from either of them that it wouldn't go anywhere, they had mutually used each other for a curious and exploring make out session. It meant nothing, the same way it meant nothing when, at certain parties she'd gone to, one drunk cheerleader or another decided it would be fun to make a move on her. It was just kissing, so why not?

The first time it had meant anything at all to her was with Francesca. She knew that when this girl kissed her, it wasn't just about experimenting or letting steam off. Her kisses said 'I like you,' and 'I want to see you again,' and 'I really need to kiss you right now.' Even now, feeling her near, the warmth of her and the softness in her lips, Nora was warm, and happy… She could do this for ages.

That day she felt a surge of something new, like she wanted to step it up, do something for Francesca, to let her know how much she liked her too, wanted to see her again also, and just couldn't get enough of her. And when she presented this option, Francesca was quick to respond to it. Nora was in a good place, but she didn't stay there long, and when her head took over, she completely missed her girlfriend's smile. Instead, she pulled back.

"Did I bite you?" Francesca asked, as cautious as ever. They were both out of breath, so there was more than enough reason for them to take a break. Nora's head was bowed, keeping her face obscured as she processed what had just happened. How could she tell her girlfriend she'd just thought of another girl?

She hadn't meant to, she really hadn't. She thought she was with Francesca long enough now that her thoughts about Grace would be calmer, that she would have let go of the belief she had reason to hope at all. But there was something different happening today, with her and Francesca, and she knew it had been instigated by her, more or less, but maybe there was a reason she hadn't gone there before, because she knew this would lead to something more, and she wasn't ready for that something more, not if it was with someone else, not if it wasn't with the girl she'd loved for all those years. Now the thought of it alone had been enough to spook her, to make her heart beg, from that place inside it where Grace lived, not to betray her. _What is there to betray, she doesn't like me that way._ Her heart didn't care, as it had never cared, and now the thought of anything going any further with Francesca was impossible.

"What's wrong, are you okay?" Francesca asked. "Hey…" she spoke softly, trying to meet the blonde's eyes. Nora had to pull herself together, to make a decision and see it through.

"I'm sorry, I…" she looked up, her face cleared of anguish. "I should really get things together, I have to take my sister out tomorrow and…"

"Do you want me to go?" Francesca asked, and hearing concern rather than hurt in her voice only made Nora feel worse. She reached for the girl's hands, looking in her eyes.

"I don't… want you to, but…"

"But you need me to," Francesca guessed, and after a beat, Nora nodded. "Alright, fair enough," she smiled, leaning in for one last soft kiss. "I'll see you at school on Monday, right?"

"Absolutely," Nora smiled to her, stepping aside to let her out. She walked her to the door downstairs, but when she was gone, she climbed right back up to her room and shut the door. Keeping up the appearance that everything was fine had been tearing her up inside, and if she'd had to keep it up any further, it would have torn her in two.

Now Francesca was gone and she was alone again, and she could hardly breathe. She let herself fall on her bed and pulled her pillow into her arms, burying her face inside it in case anyone heard her crying.

She thought she was doing so good, that she had finally moved on and started living a normal life. She had a gorgeous girlfriend, and she made her happy, made her laugh, made her heart race at the slightest touch or look… She thought maybe they were falling in love, and her heartache would be done. But she had never fallen out of love with Grace, and now she was coming to discover she never would. It wasn't that she didn't want to love her anymore, but she knew what the consequences would be to her, what it would do to her every single time she remembered she could never have her feeling the same way she did, and that despite her best efforts, she couldn't make herself move on. Why was her heart hanging on so desperately, what was it waiting for? Didn't it want to be happy too? Did it enjoy the pain?

What was she supposed to do about Francesca? If she really cared about her the way she knew she did, keeping her in the dark this way would not be showing that affection very well. She'd be using her. If she knew the real reason why Nora had asked her to go, would she understand? Would she stay by her side? Of course she wouldn't, why would she, unless her heart enjoyed the pain the way Nora's seemed to? She deserved to be happy, they all did.

THE END

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******A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
****In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
************always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!**


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